Hudson 6, Westborough 5: Gould plays mad hatter

Thursday

Jan 31, 2008 at 12:01 AMJan 31, 2008 at 4:41 AM

MARLBOROUGH - Mike Nanartowich promised Dunkin' Donuts for his first-period class if Jon Gould scored a goal last night against Westborough. Now, after Gould notched a hat trick in a 6-5 win, it looks like the Hudson boys hockey coach will be on the hook for a week's worth of crullers and Munckins.

Andy Vogt/Daily News staff

Mike Nanartowich promised Dunkin' Donuts for his first-period class if Jon Gould scored a goal last night against Westborough.

Now, it looks like the Hudson boys hockey coach will be on the hook for a week's worth of crullers and Munckins.

Gould notched a hat trick, accounting for three of the Hawks' four power-play goals, to help his team escape the New England Sports Center with a 6-5 win. It was the second one-goal win for Hudson over the Rangers this month, with the Hawks prevailing 4-3 on Jan. 9.

And just like they did three weeks ago, the Hawks (10-3-2) rallied from a third-period deficit to stay atop the Quinn Conference.

"Our guys made a conscious decision that we weren't going to let it slip away," Nanartowich said.

Westborough held a 4-3 lead entering the third period, but an early penalty put the Hawks on the man-advantage, and they capitalized quickly. After cycling the puck perfectly with teammate Cody Smith, Steve Huehmer threaded a pass through traffic to Gould, who banged the puck into the gaping net to knot things at 4-4 with 13:17 remaining.

"When you draw things up in practice, and it works, it really makes you feel good," said Nanartowich, who gave much of the credit for the power-play production to assistant coach Michael Correa.

Four minutes later, Gould struck again, collecting the puck behind the net and wrapping it inside the left post for his third power-play goal of the night.

"It's just moving the puck, getting passes to the right places. We're playing smart with the puck," said Gould of the Hawks, who scored seven times with the man-advantage in the two games against the Rangers.

Smith added an insurance goal with a spectacular individual effort, skating through three Rangers before lifting a high wrister past Westborough goalie Brendon Croteau with 4:08 left.

It would prove necessary, as Eric Collado got his second of the night by slamming in a rebound 22 seconds later. But the Rangers couldn't equalize, partly because they took a penalty with a minute to play - their eighth minor of the game.

"We're having trouble staying out of the box, and with a team of Hudson's caliber, you can see what happens," Westborough coach Ed Belbin said. "If you're up 4-3, you can settle in and start to control the game. If you give them a power play, then you're at 4-4 and have got a brand new game."

Until late in the third, neither team held more than a one-goal lead. Hudson controlled much of the opening period, outshooting the Rangers 14-5, but it was Westborough that struck first, with Sebastian Hardt finishing an odd-man rush 6:55 into the game.

The Hawks responded with Steve Huehmer's power-play tally, and took the lead on Gould's 5-on-3 goal 24 seconds into the second period.

"He's got a good smile on his face, and he should - he was buzzing," Nanartowich said of Gould.

From that point, neither side could hold the momentum for long. Collado tied things at 2-2, only to see Hudson's Jeff Chaves help his team retake the lead with a fluttering wrister under the crossbar.

Of course, that lead didn't last long - Westborough's Jared Bein scored 26 seconds later to make it 3-3, and Rangers sniper Scott Brady notched his 17th of the season late in the period to give his team the lead at the second intermission.

Hudson held a 32-25 advantage in shots over the Rangers, who fell to 6-6-1.

"If we can take something from this loss about character and sealing up some of the weaknesses we have, the loss might be meaningful," Belbin said.

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